1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to management of network resources, and more particularly, to techniques for providing resource-efficient data transmission in interactive networked environments.
2. Background of the Invention
Transmission of large graphics environments over the Internet has motivated considerable research. Much of this research has involved techniques for 3D-geometry compression. Various compressed geometry formats have been developed that allow 3D geometry to be represented in an order of magnitude less space than most traditional 3D representations, with very little loss in object quality.
Additionally, various techniques for managing 3D objects have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,169,545 and 6,381,613 to Gallery et al. describe data management for a virtual environment browser. On the client side, the system maintains a master list of the client's environment, searches the list and places requests to the server when objects are missing from the inventory.
Other techniques emphasize caching and prefetching of objects. Chim et al., “On Caching and Prefetching of Virtual Objects in Distributed Virtual Environments,” Proceedings of ACM Multimedia '98, ACM Press, pp. 171-180, 1998, disclose a scheme to cache object models. They also discuss prefetching object models by predicting those which are likely to be used in the near future and downloading them in advance.
Various other schemes make use of streaming technology. For example, European Patent EP0899924A2 discloses streaming technology for remote animation of an avatar. U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,802 to Rose et al. describes a system and method for streaming 3D objects which are visible in a static 3D scene.